Limits on gun magazines, college affordability panel among bills advanced by N.J. Legislature

By MICHAEL PHILLIS and MICHAEL LINHORST

state house bureau |

The Record

A full voting session of the state Senate led to the passage of several bills on Monday, including one that limits firearm magazines to 10-rounds, but still needs Assembly approval before heading to Governor Christie. Also approved was a bill regulating state privatization contracts. The Senate also created a panel that would study ways to make college more affordable.

RECORD FILE PHOTO

The New Jersey State House

Magazine capacity limit

Lawmakers debated the bill on the Senate floor for 45 minutes today, with Republicans arguing it will do little to reduce gun violence and save lives and Democrats countering that forcing gunmen to change magazines more frequently will give people more time to escape during mass shootings.

The 10-bullet restriction passed along party lines in a 22-17 vote. The Assembly, which passed it 46 to 31 in March, will need to vote on it again to approve an amendment added by the Senate.

“Today we’re taking another step to fulfill a promise that many of us here made to the parents of children of sandy hook elementary school in Connecticut,” said state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck, one of the bill’s sponsors.

But Sen. Gerald Cardinale, R-Demarest, said the limit won’t have much effect because “the criminals and the mentally unstable are not going to worry about this law.”

And several Democrats said they were concerned the bill would outlaw various antique firearms that have fixed cartridges, though the lawmakers still voted for the measure.

“I would have preferred to be voting on legislation today that would have exempted all pieces that have fixed cartridges,” said one of those Democrats, Sen. Paul Sarlo, of Wood-Ridge.

Christie hasn’t said whether he supports the measure.

Adoption rule changes

The Senate approved Governor Christie’s changes to a bill that would allow adoptees more access to birth records Monday.

Under the bill, a long-form birth certificate would be available to adoptees in most circumstances once they turned 18. Parents could specify what kinds of contact they preferred from three choices: direct interaction with the child, contact through an intermediary or a preference for privacy with only medical information being shared.

Christie’s veto of the original bill passed by the Legislature allowed for a longer transitional period for parents to file their preferences.

For adoptions after Aug. 1, 2015, parents would submit an information statement about their contact preference and children would be provided with an unredacted birth certificate after they turned 18.

For adoptions that occurred before the 2015 date, parents would have about two years to tell the Department of Health what their contact preference was. They could also choose to keep their identifying information private on a birth certificate.

The bill passed 29-5 and will head to the Assembly.

“For someone who has been adopted, cultural and social history as well as important family medical history is unknown,” said state Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, in a statement. “With approval of this legislation, those records will soon be available.”

College affordability

The Senate voted to establish a commission to study ways to make college more affordable Monday.

The “College Affordability Study Commission” will now head to the Assembly for approval. The legislation is being pushed by Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester. One alternative to tuition and fees that the commission my consider would be to allow students to pay a percentage of their income for a set number of years instead of a total amount in tuition and fees.

“Students will continue to drown in a sea of debt if we refuse to take any sort of action on this issue,” said Sweeney in a statement. “We cannot stand no the sidelines and allow this to continue.”

The proposal to allow for students to pay a percentage of their income is referred to as the “Pay it Forward” program.

Sweeney said for people under 35, college debt ranked second only to home mortgages.

While more people are deciding to go to college, the amount of debt nationally that students owe is increasing quickly as well. Former students owe collectively more than $1 trillion in college loans across the country.

Privitization

The Senate passed a bill that would place restrictions on when public services, such as toll collection, can be outsourced to private companies on Monday.

The bill would forbid privatization unless real cost savings could be shown. In addition, the work environment, including wages would have to stay the same or be better than the public sector and there would also be public disclosure requirements.

The bill passed by a vote of 24-14 and will now head to the Assembly.

“Privitization often offers false promises to the taxpayers with no real savings and no improvements to public service,” said Sen. Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, in a statement. “Putting people out of work doesn’t help anyone, especially when the replacement jobs cut wages and benefits.”

“This bill will set standards to protect against irresponsible privatization plans that can backfire,” he said.

The Office of the State Comptroller would be responsible for ensuring that any proposed privatization adheres to the bill’s requirements.

Some contracts would be exempt from the bill, such as those for legal or design services and some construction contracts. Should the bill become law, contracts with private companies signed before the bill’s effective date will not be impacted.

Limits on gun magazines, college affordability panel among bills advanced by N.J. Legislature

A full voting session of the state Senate led to the passage of several bills on Monday, including one that limits firearm magazines to 10-rounds, but still needs Assembly approval before heading to Governor Christie. Also approved was a bill regulating state privatization contracts. The Senate also created a panel that would study ways to make college more affordable.

Lawmakers debated the bill on the Senate floor for 45 minutes today, with Republicans arguing it will do little to reduce gun violence and save lives and Democrats countering that forcing gunmen to change magazines more frequently will give people more time to escape during mass shootings.

The 10-bullet restriction passed along party lines in a 22-17 vote. The Assembly, which passed it 46 to 31 in March, will need to vote on it again to approve an amendment added by the Senate.

“Today we’re taking another step to fulfill a promise that many of us here made to the parents of children of sandy hook elementary school in Connecticut,” said state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck, one of the bill’s sponsors.

But Sen. Gerald Cardinale, R-Demarest, said the limit won’t have much effect because “the criminals and the mentally unstable are not going to worry about this law.”

And several Democrats said they were concerned the bill would outlaw various antique firearms that have fixed cartridges, though the lawmakers still voted for the measure.

“I would have preferred to be voting on legislation today that would have exempted all pieces that have fixed cartridges,” said one of those Democrats, Sen. Paul Sarlo, of Wood-Ridge.

Christie hasn’t said whether he supports the measure.

Adoption rule changes

The Senate approved Governor Christie’s changes to a bill that would allow adoptees more access to birth records Monday.

Under the bill, a long-form birth certificate would be available to adoptees in most circumstances once they turned 18. Parents could specify what kinds of contact they preferred from three choices: direct interaction with the child, contact through an intermediary or a preference for privacy with only medical information being shared.

Christie’s veto of the original bill passed by the Legislature allowed for a longer transitional period for parents to file their preferences.

For adoptions after Aug. 1, 2015, parents would submit an information statement about their contact preference and children would be provided with an unredacted birth certificate after they turned 18.

For adoptions that occurred before the 2015 date, parents would have about two years to tell the Department of Health what their contact preference was. They could also choose to keep their identifying information private on a birth certificate.

The bill passed 29-5 and will head to the Assembly.

“For someone who has been adopted, cultural and social history as well as important family medical history is unknown,” said state Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, in a statement. “With approval of this legislation, those records will soon be available.”

College affordability

The Senate voted to establish a commission to study ways to make college more affordable Monday.

The “College Affordability Study Commission” will now head to the Assembly for approval. The legislation is being pushed by Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester. One alternative to tuition and fees that the commission my consider would be to allow students to pay a percentage of their income for a set number of years instead of a total amount in tuition and fees.

“Students will continue to drown in a sea of debt if we refuse to take any sort of action on this issue,” said Sweeney in a statement. “We cannot stand no the sidelines and allow this to continue.”

The proposal to allow for students to pay a percentage of their income is referred to as the “Pay it Forward” program.

Sweeney said for people under 35, college debt ranked second only to home mortgages.

While more people are deciding to go to college, the amount of debt nationally that students owe is increasing quickly as well. Former students owe collectively more than $1 trillion in college loans across the country.

Privitization

The Senate passed a bill that would place restrictions on when public services, such as toll collection, can be outsourced to private companies on Monday.